Resolve question on where politicians must sleep

July 21, 2013

Since becoming the state senator for a newly drawn district covering parts of Broward and Palm Beach counties last year, Sen. Maria Sachs has accomplished quite a bit.

She helped secure $82 million for Broward College, up from $71 million the previous year. She helped land $1.5 million for the new medical school at Florida Atlantic University. And she helped pass the ban on texting while driving, with plans to try to toughen the law next year.

There's just one thing Sachs hasn't done. She hasn't moved — full-time — into her new district. Rather, she continues to reside mostly at her long-time Boca Raton home, just across the road from the new district she now represents.

Sachs argues that she does, indeed, reside in the district, having rented an apartment on Northeast Ninth Street in downtown Fort Lauderdale. Her driver's license and voter registration card both show she resides at the apartment complex. She also says she receives mail there, considers it her legal address and claims no homestead exemption on the Boca house.

But while Sachs might meet the letter of the law, she doesn't meet the spirit of the law that requires state lawmakers to live in the districts they represent.

And a Republican rival is gunning for her.

Sen. Jack Latvala, R-Clearwater, last week asked Gov. Rick Scott to launch a criminal investigation of Sachs and four other Broward lawmakers — all Democrats — who similarly stand accused of not living in their districts. They are: Rep. Perry Thurston of Fort Lauderdale, Rep. Hazelle Rogers of Lauderdale Lakes, Rep. Joe Gibbons of Hallandale Beach and Rep. Jared Moskowitz of Coral Springs, each of whom says he or she meets the residency requirement.

Latvala's request follows a report by WPLG-TV Channel 10 in Miami, which raised legitimate questions about where these lawmakers lay their heads at night. The reporter videotaped Sachs going to her Boca home at night and leaving the next morning.

According to the Tampa Bay Times, the governor has directed his top lawyer to meet with the Legislature's top attorney to decide how to proceed with the request for a criminal investigation. "Sen. Latvala's letter raises serious concerns," Scott said.

Sachs argues that the law on residency recognizes that people may — and do — reside at more than one location. She points to case law that addresses "fact and intention," and says it's her intention that the downtown apartment be her legal residence. She points to an appellate ruling in Ogden v. Ogden that says, "The best proof of one's domicile is where the person says it is."

Latvala, by contrast, argues that "domicile is where you hang your hat, it has nothing to do with intent."

"If she's ever stayed there one single night, I would kiss her feet," he told us. "She signed an oath when she took office that says that under penalty of perjury, she meets the constitutional requirements of the office." He says a criminal investigation is warranted because perjury is "a third-degree felony."

Latvala has a political stake in the outcome. He strongly backed Sachs' rival — former Republican Sen. Ellyn Bogdanoff of Fort Lauderdale — in what became the most watched, most expensive and most competitive state race of 2012. The Sachs-Bogdanoff race was the only contest that pitted two incumbent state senators against one another because of redistricting — the redrawing of political lines that happens every 10 years after the national census.

Had Bogdanoff won, Latvala would have secured the member votes needed to become president of the Florida Senate. And because Sachs must run for re-election next year, there's still a chance that Bogdanoff could run again, win and stand with him. (For the record, this newspaper endorsed Bogdanoff in last year's race).

More than politics, Latvala says, "it's whether you want to accept somebody who's not playing by the rules."

Latvala's request deserves a response. However, it would be heavy handed for a Republican governor to order a criminal investigation of five Democratic lawmakers, especially since one branch of government has no business interfering in the workings of another.

Rather, as Latvala also has suggested, the Florida Legislature should police its own. The best body to determine whether Sachs has broken the law is the Senate Rules Committee, which is chaired by Sen. John Thrasher, R-St. Augustine, who similarly is said to reside in more than one home.

In the meantime, Sachs says she and her husband plan to purchase, not rent, a home in her new district.

For a senator who has done a lot of good, but is creating needless distractions, a change of address would be the right move.